Show don’t tell: top tips for creative writing

Anton Chekhov once said: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” The effect is far more powerful and helps us to experience the moon, evoking feelings of being there in that moment. Chekhov is challenging us to ‘show don’t tell’.

Teaching our children the techniques of ‘show don’t tell’ to use in their writing helps their readers to experience their story and connect with its characters through actions, thoughts and feelings, as well as descriptions. We need to teach children to create an experience, as opposed to a simple recall of events. This technique doesn’t just benefit the reader. When children use ‘show don’t tell’ in their writing, they develop empathy skills and find themselves interpreting inference in the texts they read with greater fluency.

What does ‘show don’t tell’ look like?

In Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, the opening scene cleverly shows us a huge amount without directly telling us anything:

‘“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.’